Now that I’ve taken a breather from the break-neck pace of teacup creation, I have come across a few little points of dissatisfaction with my work. I wish my idea for the Sandman cups was stronger (though there is still time to change them, so *that’s* okay). I wish I had thought to make Bonk my 69th cup, and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy should have been the 42nd. I wish I had put more test tiles in the last few months’ glaze firings; my existing glazes and underglazes are nice and all, but half the cups will need something different if they are to turn out the way I want them to.

Ah well. Another three hundred-something teacups to go. Plenty of time to get it all right…

The curvy jobby on the left there is cup number 100, “Two Lives of Charlemagne”[1]. The one on the right is the one I spent a good two hours carving yesterday evening, “Guards! Guards!”. A dragon features heavily, as you may or may not have guessed. I still want to go over the edges of the scales, and emphasize them a little more (some undercuts, maybe? It would certainly make them look spikier…), so they actually look like scales and not an odd checkered pattern, but I wanted to post the picture of it as it is now, because I’m really proud of that cup and was getting impatient to share it.

[1] Meaning, two historical accounts of the life of Charlemagne that happen to be bound together into one volume. Not actually about Charlemagne’s mainstream public life and scandalous behind-the-scenes shenanigans. I was disappointed.

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, by Spider Robinson. The first book of a series which is responsible for pubescent Me’s mental image of bars as places of all-night storytimes, pun contests, and the occasional off-world visit. Boy, was the reality ever disappointing.

Just past 15% of the gallery teacups are thrown! Woohoo![1]

Cup number 50 is for “Edgar Allan Poe: Collected Stories and Poems Illustrated”, a satisfyingly hefty and pretty volume which I have shamefully neglected to actually read ever since receiving it from my brother one Christmas.

I’m not sure quite what I want to do with this cup, yet, so I’m keeping it under plastic until I’m sure my plans don’t include anything best done whilst green. Maybe I should sit down sometime this weekend and get to know the book from whence it sprang.

[1] Only another 390 or so to go.[2]

[2] Plus saucers, trays, etc. Oh, and there’s the trimming. Musn’t forget the trimming.[3]

[3] And the carving, stamping, underglazing, attaching of handles, and/or sgraffitoing, as appropriate. Oh yes, and I also have to fire and glaze and fire everything.[4]

[4] I want to lie down now.

Today I had a little rummage through my dresser o’ miscellaneous art/craft supplies, and dug out some jump rings so I could string up the pendants I made during the holidays. That one’s my favourite. Technically, the design isn’t really an apollonian gasket[1]; it’s more just sort of inspired by them. Partly that’s due to my own eccentricities, and partly to the fact that all the circles were punched out with a big metal hole-punchey thing, and the dies for the hole-punchey thing do not come in infinite sizes.

Two copper circles, one domed and enamelled; the other poked through with holes. I was originally planning on doming and soldering the holey circle to the solid one, so I’d get a lentil sort of shape, and then soldering on some sort of tube to run the cord through. Faced with actually *doing* all that, I decided it would be simpler, eleganter, and considerably less technically challenging to leave it flat and have both circles swinging freely from a jump ring or two.

[1] For more about what makes apollonian gaskets cool, check out this video about infinite elephants.

I have an odd relationship with “Le petit prince.” I enjoy the character of the prince himself, and the narration style, and all the weird little worlds. I like the Pooh-esque simplicity of the prince’s worldview. The illustrations are great, especially considering the illustrator’s art training was cut short in childhood, due to misunderstandings re: elephants and boas and hats.

But I’ve always felt that flower was a manipulative bitch. Reading about her interactions with the prince always made me uncomfortable. Some of it’s borderline abusive. It bothered me that he traveled all that way, just to die and go back to her.

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Here he is, about to let me play with fire.

Robin Hopper, in his book “Making Marks” mentions the use of bones as stamps. He also says some are very brittle, so he has a “collection of animal bones” fired up to cone 10 to harden them. Cone 10 is well hotter than any firing I do; this suggests bones would survive my own glaze firings.

There was a Ceramics Monthly article a few years back, about an artist who presses rubies and other gemstones into her pots. The clay cracks around the pots when it shrinks in firing, but tends to hold the stone in place all the same.

There is a Discworld book called “Hogfather”, which, among other things, features tooth fairies, and teeth, and how you can use such things to change the world. Indeed, to end the world.

I have, somewhere in my apartment, a small jar full of my baby teeth.

Putting these things together could make a delightfully creepy teacup.

And last night there was a party at Denzil and Anna’s place. Some old friends, and lots of newer ones. Happy dogs[1], oddly fun party games, and good food.

It’s been a great holiday.

[1] Well, until the fireworks went off, anyways. But they got happy quickly enough afterwards.

There was Christmas, which came with parties and music and foooood. Also, books. Which I must now add to my list of Things To Turn Into Teacups, but I don’t mind because they are all lovely books so far.

Right now I’m visiting some friends, Jason and Roz. We came out on the 27th, and so far I’ve made some stamps from textured glass in their kitchen and attic, planned a gingerbread Gothic cathedral[1], started another teacup[2], and played around with their jewelry tools. I have my appollonian gasket pendant planned out and all the pieces cut out, and several of the pieces have holes and such drilled into them so I can make the scraps into jewelry as well. And tonight or tomorrow, I will get to try my hand at enamelling for the first time. I am so excited I could burst.

[1] You know it’s a Gothic one because of the flying buttresses.

[2] There’s a Neil Gaiman anthology of short stories and poetry called Fragile Things[3], and a few days ago I was thinking of NCECA and the things I learned there, and happened to remember a lecture on slip-dipping by two grad students who make installations out of clay-permeated textiles and fibres. So last night, while we watched a movie[4], I crocheted a lace teacup. And today I stuffed it into a bucket of porcelain slip that Jason had kicking around for reasons slightly mysterious to me. And at some point I hope to have a very fragile lace porcelain teacup.

[3] Astute readers may have noticed that I now have three Neil Gaiman books translated/translating into teacup form. This is because I have a lot of his work. He writes amazing, wonderful, occasionally creepy but always satisfying stories, and I recommend you check him out.

[4] Dodgeball.